foreign [Music] an environmental investigator and activist was murdered while trying to Halt an illegal logging operation in April 2021 Sandra Liliana Pena an indigenous governor in Southwest Colombia fought for the eradication of Coca crops and was killed near her home by armed men virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing the added threat of oil and gas extraction one of the eight Rangers of the park Joanna stuchberry was shot outside her home in Kenya in June this year journalist Dom Phillips who wrote extensively for the guardian and the Observer and Bruno Pereira a Brazilian expert on uncontacted tribes were murdered in the jawari valley in Brazil's Amazon [Music] according to Global witness report titled decade of defiance 1733 activists were killed between 2012 and 2021 227 of them were killed in the year 2020. this is the highest number of killings in a year despite the pandemic last year 200 environmental Defenders were murdered nearly four people a week out of the 214 were Indians this includes three tribals kawasiwaga uikapandu and Corsa who were allegedly shot dead by Security Forces ironically during a protest against the security Force camp in the silgar village in chattisgarh father Stan Swami a Jesuit priest from jharkhand was among 16 renowned activists academics and lawyers who were charged under a Draconian anti-terror law in what came to be known as the bhima koregaon case he was suffering from Parkinson's disease while in custody and died there itself Mexico recorded the highest number of killings with 54 killings in 2021 over 40 percent of those killed were indigenous people whilst Brazil and India both saw a rise in Lethal attacks both Colombia and the Philippines saw a drop in killings yet overall they remained two of the countries with the highest number of killings in the world since 2012. over three quarters of the attacks recorded took place in Latin America in Brazil Peru and Venezuela 78 percent of attacks took place in the Amazon Global witness documented 10 killings in Africa where a sector could be identified just over a quarter of lethal attacks were reportedly linked to Resource exploitation and hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure [Music] these Defenders are putting themselves in danger by confronting a Viewpoint that sees nature as something not to be cherished and protected but to be conquered and subdued this is a Viewpoint with its roots in the western industrial Revolutions of the 19th century or even further back in the scientific theory of the western so-called enlightenment it matters that this Viewpoint originated in the west as this report shows nearly all of the murdered environmental and land Defenders are from the global South and yet it is not the global South that reaps the supposed economic rewards of all this violence this Viewpoint has brought us to the brink of collapse with this report Global witness aims to urge governments to enforce laws that protect activists while also laying out blueprints for accountability in companies throughout their Global operations and have zero tolerance for attacks on land Defenders Global witness CEO Mike Davis says activists and communities play a crucial role as the first line of defense against ecological collapse as well as being front-runners in the campaign to prevent it it is High Time government Step Up identify their fault lines execute their responsibilities and do a better job of defending their Defenders for the ongoing decade the future of our species and our planet depends on it [Music]